Antiviral Efficiency of Ultraviolet Sterilization Chamber Developed by Faculty of Engineering, Ubon Ratchathani University

Abstract

In pandemic situations, prices of medical equipment tend to increase substantially. Therefore, the faculty of Engineering, Ubon Ratchathani University has developed an ultraviolet sterilization chamber (UV chamber) in order to provide affordable medical equipment in such situations. This study aimed to examine the ability of the UV chamber developed by the Faculty of Engineering, Ubon Ratchathani University to inhibit a virus. In this study, coliphage, a virus infecting Escherichia coli, was used as a representative of viruses. To examine the effect of exposure time to UV on inhibitory ability of the UV chamber against coliphage, 10 mL of coliphage with the concentration of 10⁵ pfu/mL were spotted onto BHI agar and then subjected to UV exposure for 120, 60, 30, 20 and 10 sec. After UV exposure, BHI agar having UV exposed coliphage was overlaid with soft BHI agar containing E. coli and then incubated at 37^oC for 24 h. It was found that UV treatment for 30 sec or more could completely inhibit coliphage. To examine the effect of viral load on inhibitory ability of the UV chamber against coliphage, 10 mL of coliphage with the concentrations of 10⁶, 10⁷ and 10⁸ pfu/mL were spotted onto BHI agar and then subjected to UV exposure for 30 sec. After UV exposure, BHI agar having UV exposed coliphage was overlaid with soft BHI agar containing E. coli and then incubated at 37^oC for 24 h. It was found that UV treatment for 30 sec could completely inhibit all concentrations of coliphage used in this study. From this study, it is suggested that the most effective exposure time for the application of the UV chamber to completely inhibit viruses would be at least 30 sec.